I’ve already written a few posts about Rick Green, the Chuck-Norris-approved-Alan-Keyes-supported- WallBuilders’-pseudo-historian-TEA-Party-Religious-Right-activist who is in a run-off election next month for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court despite the fact that he has exactly zero judicial experience.
But I just came across this Texas Tribune piece that recounts some other aspects of Green’s rather colorful past and thought it was worth highlighting it:
Green left the Legislature in 2002 after being narrowly defeated by Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs. Rose’s win came after Green’s extracurricular activity lobbying the Texas Department of Health on behalf of ephedra-maker Metabolife International prompted a criminal investigaton from the Travis County district attorney’s office and his appearance in an early morning infomercial hawking FocusFactor, a dietary supplement plugged as a memory aid, from his Capitol office, attracted censure from colleagues and the media. (A Federal Trade Commission complaint about “unsubstantiated advertising claims” in the FocusFactor infomercial was settled by the company that marketed the product for $1 million in 2004).
While in the Legislature, Green also drew criticism for successfully pushing the Texas Parole Board to release a man who owed $400,000 to a company his father owned and, according to The Dallas Morning News, pressured lobbyists to donate to his Torch of Freedom Foundation, which sponsors the Patriot Academy, a program for young adults “to learn about America’s system of government from a Biblical worldview” — essentially a summer boot camp for politically minded conservative teens and 20-somethings.
After he left the House, Green made headlines again when witnesses reported they saw him deck Rose, allegedly over a campaign mailer where Rose had superimposed Green’s face over that of his then Republican challenger, Jim Neuhaus. Green recounts the incident in a self-published book: “It was the first real punch I had thrown since I was a kid, but it sent him to the ground.” The Hays County sheriff’s office issued an all-points bulletin for Green’s arrest after the altercation, and he ultimately paid a fine and served six months probation on misdemeanor assault charges. In exchange for the fine and probation, Green received deferred adjudication, which means his record is now clear.
Green points out that “every single solitary time those things were brought up, they were dismissed” and says the allegations of wrongdoing in his past are “no big deal” to voters.
Can you believe that a man with this kind of record, and who brags about having once punched one of his political opponents, is now in a position to possibly win a seat on a state Supreme Court?
This is crazy, even by Texas standards.
